Protecting Francis Field

Last night, I got out of work early at my popcorn store and I waited for my ride home when in the middle of the silence of the car ride, I heard from my fiance who works at the Lighter tell me some of the rumors he has heard from locals who work downtown in the midst of tourists checking out Saint George Street.

"They want to do a giant roundabout and every street within will become pedestrian," he said.

We were waiting at the light to turn into a local poke bowl place.

"What's going to happen to the parking within that vicinity?" I asked.

Adjusting a red kettle filled with only a quarter of Orange spice and bear berry tea. I started making tea for my co-workers a few days ago. It has been a good success.

"All those parking spots on Spanish, Hypolita, Tresaury, Charlotte, everything really will be dug up and turned into parks or buildings for more shops," he commented. We open up the doors from his car and head inside for some poke and miso. We wait in line while an employee mops the floor and the boss creates the order.

"So how are they going to handle the parking overflow once those paid parking lots are gone?" I asked again. We grabbed some sake and paid for our meal and headed back to the car. We went down to the 312 and headed towards highway one for home.

"They want to year up Francis Field. You know the big field where they had the Celtic festival last year and now this year," he calmly says before we get out of the car and into the little red house we call The Burrow.

It's one thing to want to change the town for tourists, it's another to take away event space locals enjoy and want to continue hosting large events like a Celtic festival, BBQ festival, and so on and so forth. Here are some ideas that I think could work in the long run and we can still keep Francis Field.

Building up Uptown Saint Augustine

There are two places in Saint Augustine that draw certain kinds of crowds. Uptown is for locals who often go to the Farmer's Market on Saturdays. Most of those businesses are located in the uptown region of the entire city. However, most of the more touristy destinations like Prohibition Kitchen and the Columbia are a few that stay on Saint George Street and get the kinds of crowds that involve the local police.

If we ended up with a large round about and got rid of all the parking, then we would have a much easier growth and opportunity to bring more jobs into the heart of the city.

If instead of taking Francis Field and making it become another parking garage that creates more headaches than solves problems, then looking at moving any parking structures or larger lots north of the city and into uptown gives more people time to walk and tour all of the city and not just Saint George Street.

Business and growth will come in a more easier flow to manage and develop better transportation demands and better opportunities for commercial companies like the Ripley Red Train and Old Town Trolley tours to have a better advantage for uptown shops and merchandise that several people downtown have no idea what's missing.

Offering a Shuttle Service Between Uptown and Downtown

It is only 20 minutes to downtown from the farthest reach of uptown, which is all the way near Winn-Dixie on US One 1 near to Fort Mose. During the busiest tourist season, shuttle companies and trolley tour groups offer overflow parking in most of the uptown regions of Saint Augustine.

Offering a 24 hour shuttle service or easy enough service between seven and eleven in the morning, transportation and commuter traffic would be cut in nearly thirds or half the rate it normally is when it comes to Nights of Lights or Thanksgiving shopping. Not only is that a good idea, but when the summertime hits, offering a more easy way to stay in the shade would provide a better pulse to the city as it gears up for hurricane season and large pools of tourists, locals, and seasonal vacationers who enjoy the city and its rich history.

Flagler College Enforcing Student Parking in Private Garage

Something I learned about Flagler College is that they paid a lot of money to have a parking garage for their students and not anyone else, like faculty and staff. However, the student population continues to use parking around the city and not the garage. Maybe a way to enforce the rule or offer a few options for residents and city dwellers to use the parking garage for certain events could help lessen up some of the parking downtown. For those students that come from all over the country or a student visa for college, rentals are necessary if they have to travel long distances or for vacations with friends, but sometimes there is no need to hold onto a car that you will use once in a blue moon. Perhaps a taxi or car-sharing service like those websites where you can rent out our house for a vacation spot or swap your house for someone else's home and they get yours would be something I'm interested in seeing when it comes to limiting cars in historic downtown.

While there have been other things going on downown, including the up and coming Celtic festival which draws large crowds to the city, I have been getting to know everyone who works or owns a store in the vicinity of all the busy tourist attractions.

Some other things that are going to cause a lot of busy seasons for all shops downtown include the opening of a pretzel and crepe shop, a seafood shop coming later this year, and the Degas exhibit at the Lightner Museum, which I will post a better article about later this year.